We Will not be Silent! Send a White Rose to Obama

Posted by CODEPINK Staff

CODEPINK, along with Jewish and Muslim women, plan to flood President-Elect Obama's Washington DC Hotel with White Roses on Friday delivering the message, "Please do not be silent. The children of Gaza need your help."

In the plea to the President Elect to speak out, CODEPINK harkens back to the White Rose Society-the WWII non-violent resistance group in Germany. This tiny band of college students and their professor adopted the motto "We will not be silent" and exposed what they saw and knew was happening around them.

This week, the bodies of the children who died outside the United Nations school in Gaza on Tuesday were laid out in a long row on the ground. Halfway along the row of bodies, Huda Deed was weeping. She lost nine members of her extended family, ages 3 to 25. "Look, they've lined them up like a ruler!" she said, inconsolable.

It is estimated that one in five of those killed by Israel's attacks on Gaza have been children.

ABC News visited Gaza's emergency rooms. "On one bed, a child lies still and terrified as doctors cut away bloody clothes. Another begs them to stop as they treat her wounds. Some are crying. Some stare straight ahead in shock. Some are dead."

In the face of this devastating violence, our new leader, Barack Obama, has been tragically silent. Over 600 Palestinians had been killed before he even expressed concern over the deaths of civilians. But no condemnation of the massacre. No call for an immediate ceasefire.

We must push Obama to show moral leadership and truly be the "peace president" the American people elected.